What's the matter with this film's casting--was Hollywood running out of genuine English actors? I can't understand with all the English actors in the film and the film being set in London, you'd sure think that all the actors would be Brits--or at least sound British. So why did they cast Charles Coburn (a great actor, sure) and Lucille Ball in this film? As a result, when the film started I felt puzzled to say the least but at least noticed that there were a lot of actors in the film other than these two leads who actually were Brits.
The film concerns a serial killer who is killing pretty young ladies. Oddly, he has a calling card of sorts, as he leaves strange and rather cryptic poems for the police. When Lucille Ball is able to give the police some important information concerning her friend who just disappeared, the police instantly make her a police woman and send her out on assignments to find the killer. It seems that whoever is doing the killings is using personal ads in the newspaper to recruit victims, so they have Lucy go in response to many, many such ads.
Here's the odd part--and I don't blame the film makers for this but the marketing jerks at Kino Video today. You see, on the cover of the DVD, there is a nice photo of Lucy and Boris Karloff and it's very prominent. However, Karloff is only in the movie about five minutes and he's eliminated as a suspect early on in the film--yet the DVD maker would have the viewer expect this to be a film in which Karloff starred. Heck, a dozen people were in the movie would could have easily been put on the cover with Lucy instead! Despite all this, Karloff is NOT the psycho (or at least he's a DIFFERENT psycho). So, Lucy goes on several more meetings until she is able to crack a smuggling ring--but not the serial killer. Along the way, she meets and almost instantly falls in love with George Sanders and they decide to marry(!). But, when it appears that Sanders may actually be the killer, Lucy may be in for far more than she thought.
The film has an interesting plot and could have been a very good film...but it was not. There were several problems with the film. First, the casting was just all wrong. Second, what police force in the world would take an untrained civilian and make her an instant police woman? Additionally, why would they hand her a loaded gun--especially when the British police rarely carry revolvers! Third, the relationship with Sanders and Lucy just went way, way too fast. No offense, but he's rather erudite and rich--so why would he go all ga-ga over Lucy? Back in the 1930s, she was rather pretty but still so unlike Sanders. Now, in 1947, the match just made little sense--perhaps he was on the rebound from Zsa-Zsa. Sadly, so much about the writing was good--such as the nice plot twists in the latter half of the film. But it's just too sloppy and improbable throughout to be more than a time-passer.
Sad, as there was a cast of wonderful actors that were unfortunately wasted. Other than the folks I already mentioned, the film starred Cedric Hardwicke, George Zucco, Joseph Calleia, Joseph Calleia and Alan Napier--all very, very talented men.
The film concerns a serial killer who is killing pretty young ladies. Oddly, he has a calling card of sorts, as he leaves strange and rather cryptic poems for the police. When Lucille Ball is able to give the police some important information concerning her friend who just disappeared, the police instantly make her a police woman and send her out on assignments to find the killer. It seems that whoever is doing the killings is using personal ads in the newspaper to recruit victims, so they have Lucy go in response to many, many such ads.
Here's the odd part--and I don't blame the film makers for this but the marketing jerks at Kino Video today. You see, on the cover of the DVD, there is a nice photo of Lucy and Boris Karloff and it's very prominent. However, Karloff is only in the movie about five minutes and he's eliminated as a suspect early on in the film--yet the DVD maker would have the viewer expect this to be a film in which Karloff starred. Heck, a dozen people were in the movie would could have easily been put on the cover with Lucy instead! Despite all this, Karloff is NOT the psycho (or at least he's a DIFFERENT psycho). So, Lucy goes on several more meetings until she is able to crack a smuggling ring--but not the serial killer. Along the way, she meets and almost instantly falls in love with George Sanders and they decide to marry(!). But, when it appears that Sanders may actually be the killer, Lucy may be in for far more than she thought.
The film has an interesting plot and could have been a very good film...but it was not. There were several problems with the film. First, the casting was just all wrong. Second, what police force in the world would take an untrained civilian and make her an instant police woman? Additionally, why would they hand her a loaded gun--especially when the British police rarely carry revolvers! Third, the relationship with Sanders and Lucy just went way, way too fast. No offense, but he's rather erudite and rich--so why would he go all ga-ga over Lucy? Back in the 1930s, she was rather pretty but still so unlike Sanders. Now, in 1947, the match just made little sense--perhaps he was on the rebound from Zsa-Zsa. Sadly, so much about the writing was good--such as the nice plot twists in the latter half of the film. But it's just too sloppy and improbable throughout to be more than a time-passer.
Sad, as there was a cast of wonderful actors that were unfortunately wasted. Other than the folks I already mentioned, the film starred Cedric Hardwicke, George Zucco, Joseph Calleia, Joseph Calleia and Alan Napier--all very, very talented men.